⛵ Trade Winds

Buy low. Sail smart. Sell high.

A pass-and-play merchant trading game for 2-4 players. Sail a ring of ports, buy goods where they're cheap and sell where they're dear -- the trade winds make some routes cheap and others costly. Highest net worth after 8 rounds wins.

Best net worth ever: 0g

Round 1 / 8 Wind: Easterly ↻
Player 1's turn

Port Azure

Gold: 50g Travel pts: 3 Cargo: 0 / 10
Buy low, sail with the wind, sell high.

Player 1 Wins!

⛵ About Trade Winds

Trade Winds is a pass-and-play merchant trading game for 2-4 players on RivalPit. Sail a ring of six named ports -- Port Azure, Coral Bay, Stormhaven, Salt Rock, Gullhaven, and Driftwood Cove -- buy goods low, sell them high, and use the trade winds to travel cheaply. Highest net worth after 8 rounds wins.

You start each match with 50 gold and a cargo hold that carries up to 10 units of spice, cloth, tools, and gems combined -- so every purchase is a trade-off between diversifying your cargo and having room left for whatever's cheap at the next port.

How to Play

  1. On your turn, buy and sell goods -- spice, cloth, tools, and gems -- at your current port, limited by your 10-unit cargo hold and how much gold you have.
  2. Then sail toward the next port using your 3 travel points for the turn.
  3. Each round has a wind direction: sailing with the wind costs just 1 travel point per hop, but sailing against it costs 2 -- so you can cover up to 3 hops with the wind, but only 1 against it.
  4. Prices drift a little at every port after each full round, so a bargain you spot now might not last until you're back that way.
  5. After 8 rounds, whoever has the highest net worth -- gold plus unsold cargo value -- wins.

Check the wind before you decide which way to sail -- routing with the wind can be the difference between reaching three ports and reaching just one this turn.

Don't fill your hold with a single good early -- with only 10 cargo slots, locking in one commodity before you've scouted a couple of ports' prices can leave you stuck if that good crashes in value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Trade Winds free to play?

Yes. Trade Winds is completely free to play in your browser at rivalpit.com/tradewinds/, no download, install, or account required.

How many players can play Trade Winds?

Trade Winds supports 2 to 4 players in pass-and-play mode on one device.

What decides the winner?

After 8 full rounds, the match ends and each player's net worth -- gold on hand plus the value of any unsold cargo -- is tallied. Highest net worth wins.

How much can my ship carry?

Every ship has a 10-unit cargo hold, shared across all four goods -- spice, cloth, tools, and gems. You'll need to sell before you can buy more once you're full.

How does sailing with or against the wind work?

Each round has a wind direction around the ring of ports. You get 3 travel points per turn; sailing with the wind costs 1 point per port hopped, while sailing against it costs 2 -- so wind direction directly decides how far you can move that turn.